Final EA and FONSI

The Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD), the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior), and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission (Mitigation Commission), as Joint Lead Agencies, have released the Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact Statements (FONSI) for the WCWEP OM&R EA.

Introduction

The Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD), the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission (Mitigation Commission), and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior), as Joint Lead Agencies, propose to perform additional Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement (OM&R) activities on the Wasatch County Water Efficiency Project (WCWEP) water delivery system. These activities include: stabilizing canal banks; lining, enclosing, or piping the canals for safety and continued efficiency; improving access; and updating pump stations and regulating ponds to accommodate the changing pattern of water demand.

The EA is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA to determine whether the Proposed Action would have significant impacts to the human environment. The EA will analyze the impacts of a No Action Alterative and other reasonable alternatives determined through the scoping process to be appropriate for consideration and analysis. During the EA process if impacts are determined to be significant, an EIS would be required prior to proceeding with project implementation.

Following a 30-day scoping period, the Joint Lead Agencies will review all comments received and will take those comments, and other pertinent information, into consideration in preparing a draft EA. A draft EA will be made available to the public for a 30-day review and comment period. All comments received on the draft EA will be considered in preparing the final EA. If the final EA shows no significant impacts, then a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) will be issued by the Joint Lead Agencies and distributed along with the final EA to the interested public. During the EA process, if it is determined that there may be significant impacts to the human environment, preparation of an EIS would be necessary prior to project implementation.